I've said in other places, and I know I'm not the first to suggest it, but Tull is musical Joyce. Inscrutable, complex, meaningful, and just beautiful, even if we don't get it all at first. Another reason we keep coming back, over and over again (I'm on my tenth reading of Ulysses, and still can't comprehend the Wake lol not bragging, I'm slow)
This album makes me proud to be English and just encapsulates everything I love about Jethro Tull as a band. I wish more people gave it the attention it deserves.. but for me its Tull's 'Selling England'. I never knew an album that could make me sad whilst simultaneously making me smile.
Although most people think of Ian as the great flute player, you can tell from this album that he is a fantastic acoustic guitar player. I think he deserves more credit than he gets for that, in fact I think he might be one of the best acoustic guitar players in the world. someday I think he will be known for that.
Ian's childhood was spent far from London but the city was where he found success and stardom as a young man. There are lots of observational songs about his time there, and Baker Street Muse is certainly one, although it develops into a satire on wider society in general: a look at an England that was rapidly changing while also being stuck in its ways. Ian the outsider strides through it all, past the newspaper stands and cheap electronics stores, the sex workers and Indian restaurants, sees the "casualties" and their fat-wallet exploiters, and questions where, how and if he fits into such a world. Pretty soon, Ian the one-line joker would reject the city and move to the house in the country and become the cod-pieced laird (salmon-pieced to be accurate as he was to become one of the biggest names in the booming fish farming business) and move musically away from prog towards folk-rock. So, Minstrel is a halfway house, a transition from urban to rural, and from being the kind of star featured in all the papers to a more reclusive, and far less of the fashionably weird music industry figure.
@@jollyrodgers7272 IA sold the (then) very successful Strathaird Salmon at the end of 2000. It closed down more recently and was finally dissolved earlier this year. Despite the lyrical reference, it's not Cornwall but Wiltshire that he calls home these days. 😉
I first heard Tull in 1986 (I was eight) and thought that this song and My God were the greatest things I'd ever heard. Didn't understand them then at all, but I was hooked. I'm 45 now, and I still think they're among the greatest things I've heard
Ian was born in Scotland but moved to Blackpool, NW England, at an early age. 221b Baker Street, fictional home of Sherlock Holmes. Fraulein is a German girl.
The acoustic guitar is played by Ian Anderson, not Martin Barre, who only played electric on this album... Ian's my favorite acoustic player, and this perfectly illustrates why.
Baker street muse is one of my favourite Jehtro Tull tracks for sure! Would be cool to see you react to the album Stormwatch soon, its one of the lesser known Jethro Tull albums but still in my top 3!
This is a great track. Really proggy, and closer to Thick as a Brick again, before the folk elements took over on the next albums, and i love the tongue-in-cheek spirit here 🙂 Like your emphasis on Palmer's outstanding string arrangements.
That great Olde English Prog vibe that only Ian and Jethro Tull can give us. : D Ian gave David Palmer (back in the day) a lot of work & musical freedom on this album, it's so good !! Palmer always worked with Tull since their first album but really added much more from Aqualung on ... and became their 2nd "Touring" Keyboardist from 1976' to 1979". And also worked on Symphonic albums of Jethro Tull/ Genesis/ Pink Floyd/ Yes/ The Beatles & Queen !!
I believe the reference to mother England lighting the fire under him grows back to a period when there was a huge investment into young people basically saying if you wanted to go into the arts and do something it would be paid for so that's where a lot of the Canterbury music and a lot of the musicians coming out of England came from the summer festivals were plentiful for artists to play and all of the push for free education in the arts resulted in a whole bunch of great talent being heard...
It was December 1975. I was a Junior in High School pulling into the parking lot of Great Scott Supermarket , arriving for my 2nd day as a bagger. Listening to Baker Street Muse on a portable cassette player sitting on my passenger seat... I could not leave the car in time to make the start of my shift. Tardy, I entered the market with a face of someone who may have just hit the lotto. 47 years later, I realize that I DID !
Isn't it great to have a muse? JP, the first time I heard this album was just after it came out... I almost sold my guitar.... Delicious acoustic guitar throughout Minstrel, Ian in fine voice, these troubadours at their very best.
It would be a shame if you skipped War Child which was bookended by such great albums and seems to get forgotten. It's full of Ian's distinctive humour and follows on nicely from A Passion Play, breaking down into short song format. I saw this lineup touring the album and it was plain to see they were enjoying themselves. The track Two Fingers contains one of my favourite lines by Ian. All the usual elements from this period are there plus John Evan making excellent use of the piano accordion.
I also like 'why do the faithful have such a will to believe in something, and call it the name they choose, having chosen nothing?' Ian was a ridiculous wordsmith.
I believe masterpiece is the right word for this song description. This song always in my top three Tull songs of all time. This album has never once lost the steam it initially came with.
I agree that this song showcases the full maturity of Jethro Tull's musical style - I really like those gentle strings and flute in the brief interludes. That riff has a couple of rests, or gaps in between notes, generating a dynamic imbalance. Ian must have overloaded this song to give the music critics a mind-boggling task to review it.
This album was recorded in breaks from the Warchild tour and didn't have it's own supporting tour, they just continued the Warchild tour with additional material from a new album. They also never performed this song live. I've requested other channels (Sight After Dark) react to this, so I'm grateful to have you finally enjoy it as well. The whole band is on fire, Ian's voice is probably at its best (for me, Warchild/Minstrel is his best balance of strength and nuance) and Ian writes some lines and vignettes on this album that are so brilliant. Super dense lyrically, beautifully arranged and impeccably performed. From '68 - '80 Tull are seriously hard to beat, and did good work afterwards as well. Legends.
Yes, thank you! I mentioned this on Requiem. Here is what I got top of page on Google: Ian Anderson's flute is widely regarded as the element that made Jethro Tull unique as a rock band. More instruments, however, contributed to the group's specific sound. One of those was Anderson's acoustic guitar, which - unlike his flute - gradually rose to a position of importance.
Justin, here's Dee's response: Hello Robert, Thank you for the link. Without your prompt, I doubt I would ever have become privy to the thinking (and opinion) of someone I have never encountered but who, plainly, was aware of my contribution to the glory days of Jethro Tull. I am flattered. Hugely. Again, thank you so much. DP
@@JustJP , this morning's message from Dee: A further thought. MITG hosts many more of the creative gems I entrusted to Ian's keeping. The pizzicato strings (emulating the quacking of ducks) in One White Duck is but one. I must listen to the album again; after all, it's over 47 years since Ian and I shared (for a couple of weeks) a rented house in LA to work on the songs.
I listened to this album over and oveer as a teenager, but only recently been to London and I didn't have much time for sightseeing while in there. To my surprise the only random walk I took across the city took me through the streets described in Baker St. Muse, and until know the only "real" London reference I have is from this album and the surroundings of Baker Street...
"shit, shit, shit - take two" always gets me too, bro! I haven't been on Baker St. in 40+ years, but this medley painted such a vivid picture for me, it'll last a lifetime. This is one of his best compositions, IMO - as well as THICK AS A BRICK (sides1 and 2) - his vocal deliveries are unique as another instrument. According to his website, Ian does have a house in the country, but never took a driving test for a motorcar (just cycles). I prefer the older stuff like the album Stand Up (Living In The Past is great, but a lot of it comes from Stand Up). You really should hit THICK AS A BRICK the entire album (one song). Ian didn't grow up in London, rather Blackpool, North of Liverpool.
Gun to my head, have to choose one, I think that this is the one, with Thick as a Brick coming in a close second, and maybe add in Budapest. As good as it gets. Glad you finally got to enjoy it!
It's an epic way to wrap up what's probably my favourite Tull album, and where the folk styling starts to come through strongly - it's not exactly the Wicker Man vibe from Heavy Horses or Songs from the Wood, but I can hear Ian leaning into the old English bawdy song tradition. Even though they're very different stylistically, I always place this one alongside what Townshend was saying in Who Are You, that sense of the jaded artist feeling how easy it is to be isolated even in a huge city, looking for outlets that don't mean very much, and - maybe a hint of transcendence to reach for.
Enjoyed listening to it for the first time, with you. Somehow I missed this song - as in have seen it many times, and have somehow had it chalked up to the already-known songs, but always on the way to somewhere else, passing it by. (The record I think I skipped because most of it was on Bursting Out, Live, which had become my favourite way of listening to Jethro Tull.) Anyway "New" Jethro Tull! Always a pleasure to come across some of that. (There are many other gaps in my Tull-completeness, but I'm aware of those. Don't have the illusion of knowing them.)
Looked like you enjoyed this track JP infact the whole album. I can't get enough of it. I put it on every couple of weeks . I find it soothing even with its prog elements.
Awesome reaction JP. 😍 I consider this album to be best progressive folk rock album of all , and let's face it Jethro Tull have made a fair few. I have heard this album a ridiculous amount of times, and never tire of it. It's rocky and folky in equal parts , all wrapped up in a medieval soundscape. What's not to like ?? All the band on very top form - Martin Barre is one of the best electric guitar player's the world has never heard of !! ( Apart from us lucky ones of course ) Remember my Mum ' dancing ' to it back in the day. Something for everybody - BRILLIANT !! Thanks again JP. 👍👍
Afternoon, Justin. Dave from That There London (about five miles from Baker Street). Wonderful reaction, and I totally agree with you that Dee's string arrangements play a starring role in these tracks and the album generally. Yes, the band are tight, probably as their songs have become deceptively complex. I know many of Tull's albums, but this one passed me by at the time (probably as it was my finals year, and I was a bit of a swot!). I feel that it marks a transition for the band, from its blues/rock and concept past to the baroque folkiness of Songs From The Wood and Heavy Horses (which remain my two favourites). Not a huge fan of Tull's longer songs, but this one flows so well. Plenty of social commentary about people Living In These Hard Times. Did they really record this album in Monte Carlo as tax exiles? Discuss! P.S. my song ref Living In These Hard Times (ironic?) is from Heavy Horses.
anf of course forgot Thick as Brick which is part of the superlative JT body of work, of course. By the way Minstrel in the Gallery is one of my personal favorites, I like it more than Thick as a Brick and even Aqualung. Its English Baroqueness resonates with me. I suppose if I am honest I love the Folk Rock period most, the 80s electronic period second and the developmental period from the blues period 3rd. The early period is take it or leave it for me and the very late stuff is okay but mediocre in comparison to the elite Aqualung to Broadsword period. Untouchable.
@@christinerobinson9372 Possibly because it's at the heart of commercial London and is a melting pot and meeting point for all kinds of people, a place people tend to pass through at points in their lives but without putting down deep roots. It's a transitory, ever-changing kind of a place.
@@Katehowe3010 It is, but don't think that's particularly directly relevant to the songs. But maybe Conan Doyle based his detective there for similar reasons: it's an area that's in the fringes, neither upper class nor working class. It's more anonymous and easier to believe that anything and anyone is there?
Thanks for finally getting to this. Great song, great review. I hope you like the photos that I posted on Twitter (and tagged you) when I went down to the Bakers St tube station. Titled “Crash Barrier Waltzer..and others”.
Bought this on release date, a million yrs ago. Still a personal favorite. Repeating themes, great concept album. Some of their finest work. In fact it’s so good, I still think they we’re showing off. Excellent choice. 🤘😎
You mentioned "Songs From the Wood". It is, hands down, my favorite Tull album. I used to listen to it whilst attending SCA events. It just fit the mood (all those medieval clothes and swords). "Songs From the Wood" was listened to by all!
I wonder if this is the Steve Wilson remix..? I have never heard the xylophone so clearly before.. I've just looked at the notes at the bottom of the video and notice that Grace is noted as such so I guess that Baker St Muse must be too. Bloody hell.... another version here I come...
This was just after Warchild and before Songs from the Wood. It fits right into their ever maturing sound. If you are a true Tull fan, compare this album to Benefit. Very different, but none the less quality Jethro Tull. Thanks for appreciating their music JP.
The "trick" to feeling that one riff -- there's a one-measure build up, then a rest on beat one -- then the riff starts on the "and" of one (or the upbeat). If you can feel (or tap) the quarter note continuing through the riff, it makes more sense. :)
Great and lovely review. You make a good point about Tull never standing still musically. If you go through their discography, you'll see that every album has a distinctly different musical theme. This Was - Rustic English Blues Stand Up - Middle Eastern vibe Benefit - psychedelic rock Aqualung - brooding, grungy rock TAAB - operatic rock, etc
Love Jethro Tull. Music dare I say fore soothe, even five soothe that brings hundreds of year of our nation into merriment of music into the 20th Century. Ermm okay just found out we've moved on to the next one. Bloody hell time does move on so are in the next one beyond that. Okay whatever that therefore all that still counts. :)
If you were to ask me for an example of a perfect album (to the extent perfection is possible), this is the one I would cite. Every song is masterful. This, TAaB, and APP are my three favorite Tull albums. Thanks for sharing your reactions! Maybe Stormwatch next?
The protagonist is Ian Anderson's muse and shows us bits and pieces of mld 70s London. Brilliant. Everything Jethro Tull have learned about composing and playing in their first 10 years is summed up here. Å masterpiece..
everyone who likes jethro tull deserves subscription. im in! p.s.are you sure this acoustic guitar is martin barre`s though ? i think he rather plays the electric things and the "strummy" acoustic guitar is actually played by Ian himself, correct me if i m wrong. anyway great job in analysing all the tull songs.
YEAH FOR SURE JUSTIN, LOTSAAAA COMPLEXITIES BUT THEY SOUND SO GOOD TOGETHER :) THEY WERE TIGHT TOO WITH ( TOO OLD TO ROCK N ROLL, TOO YOUNG TO DIE ) :) GOOD WORK BUD, GREAT BREAKDOWN. LOVE ITTTTT!
If you liked this, you'll love WarChild, at least some of its bits - it has similar involvement from Dee Palmer (fantastic string arrangements). Then there's still some great JT songs left for you to discover: No Lullaby, Flying Dutchman, Dun Ringill, Mouse Police, From A Deadbeat to an Old Greaser, One Brown Mouse, Chequered Flag, Old Aces Die Hard
Baker Street of Gerry Rafferty and Sherlock Holmes fame. Britain at this time was a fairly grey and grimy place but the music made it bearable. Nobody in their right mind could be nostalgic about the 70s, except for bands like this. I agree with other contributors that you should check out War Child.
Justin, now that you've completed this album, I hope you will someday give Ian his props for the acoustic guitar work, all of which is his and not Barre's. Otherwise, great review.
my JT ranking: 1) Passion Play ...little gap... 2) TAAB + Baker St Muse, 3) Aqualung, 4) Songs from... + rest of Minstrell... Ian Anderson has probably one of the best acoustic guitars in rock history and it shines on 'Muse'. Crash barrier waltzer is NOT done by Martin, this is done by Ian... kudos. Best rock bard - period. Probably, if one day Ian would appear with his small guitar and the flute on Trafalgar or on Times Square, all rush in this city would stop listening to him...
Plenty of good Tull left. Based upon your interest in Minstrel and Songs From the Wood , i think the HEAVY HORSES album is the perfect mix and perhaps a bit more optimistic and lighthearted in feel.
I loved hearing this album. You've picked most of the best stuff from the 70s. I'd love to see you do Queen's catalog, but I understand there are reasons you can't. Too bad... How about REM's first album, Murmur? There's not a bad track on it. Try "Sitting Still" or "Catapult."
Song pieces glued together with awkward, unmusical "heavy" riffs that don't progress-they just spin in place. I'm not sure what happened to Ian Anderson's writing, but I suspect that if at this point he could have had a career not being the one-legged leader of Jethro Tull, he would have done so. I bet it would have done him good.
Of course, this epic is incredibly well played and superbly arranged but from my point of view its different parts do not necessarily fit together well and in truth, none of it speak to me particularly. The storefront is nice but the whole thing leaves me a bit cold to be honest. "Grace" is nice to end the album. Next trip with Jethro Tull: I advise you to make a stop at WAR CHILD station ! 😉 You will find a whole range of instruments there (saxophone, accordion, double bass...) as well as ever lush orchestral arrangements !
Seconding War Child HARD. It's one of my favourite Tull albums, criminally underrated if I'm honest. And speaking of instruments: there's even bagpipes in there!
@@cobrasys Totally correct ! !!! I always thought there was bagpipes on "The Third Hoorah" but I never saw them credited (it may be a synthesizer intended to imitate them but that would surprise me). You can even hear castanets at one point on "Ladies". War Child is definitely Jethro Tull's richest album in terms of orchestration and it's one of my favorites from the band.
@@cobrasys Oh ! and I forgot there were even tubular bells on "Sealion" ! Gosh this album is overloaded with arrangements!!! (but for its own good in this specific case !).
@@cobrasys I don't remember hearing harpsichord on the War Child album. Could you tell me what song this instrument is on, please ? (maybe on one of the unreleased tracks at the time ?).
This is a very relaxing song mostly with it's repetitive and gently undulating flows, which Ian deliberately breaks up in parts later. This technique was taken to a whole greater level by bands like Porcupine Tree.
Possibly. I don't doubt Rafferty would have heard it. Or maybe both songs, inspired by the same street, reflect personal musings (pun intented) by each artist. According to Wikipedia, Rafferty spent a lot of time at a friend's house on Baker, at a time he was going through some legal disputes. Likely, Baker Street the song is a reflection of those experiences.
@@maciejkrasuski Yes, I saw them in 1976 at LA Coliseum but they only played the title song from that album. Anderson did some acoustic guitar improvisation though. But I don't know that it was ever recorded. I know there are very few Tull video clips from the 70s on youtube.
"Crash Barrier Waltzer" is perhaps my favorite piece of Ian's writing. That section of "Baker Street Muse" is so beautiful and sad.
Ian's voice in his prime. Playing acoustic guitar while singing brings out his best.
I've said in other places, and I know I'm not the first to suggest it, but Tull is musical Joyce. Inscrutable, complex, meaningful, and just beautiful, even if we don't get it all at first. Another reason we keep coming back, over and over again (I'm on my tenth reading of Ulysses, and still can't comprehend the Wake lol not bragging, I'm slow)
One of the most underrated thing about Ian Anderson is his acoustic guitar playing. He is magical on this track.
and Martin Barre is a magnificent foil to Anderson's guitar and flute throughout.
Palmer's strings are perfect and bring it all together. Ian's acoustic guitar and voice are tremendous.
This album makes me proud to be English and just encapsulates everything I love about Jethro Tull as a band. I wish more people gave it the attention it deserves.. but for me its Tull's 'Selling England'.
I never knew an album that could make me sad whilst simultaneously making me smile.
Sadly England hardly exists these days everything is UK this UK that it's sad
You're pretty anyway
Although most people think of Ian as the great flute player, you can tell from this album that he is a fantastic acoustic guitar player. I think he deserves more credit than he gets for that, in fact I think he might be one of the best acoustic guitar players in the world. someday I think he will be known for that.
Ian's childhood was spent far from London but the city was where he found success and stardom as a young man. There are lots of observational songs about his time there, and Baker Street Muse is certainly one, although it develops into a satire on wider society in general: a look at an England that was rapidly changing while also being stuck in its ways. Ian the outsider strides through it all, past the newspaper stands and cheap electronics stores, the sex workers and Indian restaurants, sees the "casualties" and their fat-wallet exploiters, and questions where, how and if he fits into such a world.
Pretty soon, Ian the one-line joker would reject the city and move to the house in the country and become the cod-pieced laird (salmon-pieced to be accurate as he was to become one of the biggest names in the booming fish farming business) and move musically away from prog towards folk-rock.
So, Minstrel is a halfway house, a transition from urban to rural, and from being the kind of star featured in all the papers to a more reclusive, and far less of the fashionably weird music industry figure.
Very well put.
Ian the outsider, exactly.
gone from Scottish fish farming (the business crashed), he's 'resting' down in Cornwall, writing up his memoirs.
@@jollyrodgers7272 IA sold the (then) very successful Strathaird Salmon at the end of 2000. It closed down more recently and was finally dissolved earlier this year. Despite the lyrical reference, it's not Cornwall but Wiltshire that he calls home these days. 😉
I first heard Tull in 1986 (I was eight) and thought that this song and My God were the greatest things I'd ever heard. Didn't understand them then at all, but I was hooked. I'm 45 now, and I still think they're among the greatest things I've heard
Ian was born in Scotland but moved to Blackpool, NW England, at an early age. 221b Baker Street, fictional home of Sherlock Holmes. Fraulein is a German girl.
The acoustic guitar is played by Ian Anderson, not Martin Barre, who only played electric on this album... Ian's my favorite acoustic player, and this perfectly illustrates why.
Always one of faves. Baker St. Muse is an EPIC on par with A PASSION PLAY.
Glad you enjoyed it JP!!!!
That's ian on acoustic guitar
Baker street muse is one of my favourite Jehtro Tull tracks for sure! Would be cool to see you react to the album Stormwatch soon, its one of the lesser known Jethro Tull albums but still in my top 3!
Dark Ages from that Stormwatch album is a great track.
Love Stormwatch! I’ve never understood why so many people say Heavy Horses is the last great one… “A” is great too in my opinion.
Lesser known? A lot of Tull fans probably have it in their top 5 or 6, I think, though it might not be in the top 3 of many.
This is a great track. Really proggy, and closer to Thick as a Brick again, before the folk elements took over on the next albums, and i love the tongue-in-cheek spirit here 🙂
Like your emphasis on Palmer's outstanding string arrangements.
That great Olde English Prog vibe that only Ian and Jethro Tull can give us. : D
Ian gave David Palmer (back in the day) a lot of work & musical freedom on this album, it's so good !! Palmer always worked with Tull since their first album but really added much more from Aqualung on ... and became their 2nd "Touring" Keyboardist from 1976' to 1979". And also worked on Symphonic albums of Jethro Tull/ Genesis/ Pink Floyd/ Yes/ The Beatles & Queen !!
"Ale spewing puddle brew boys throw it up clean, coke and Bacardi color them green..." rolls off the tongue nicely
I believe the reference to mother England lighting the fire under him grows back to a period when there was a huge investment into young people basically saying if you wanted to go into the arts and do something it would be paid for so that's where a lot of the Canterbury music and a lot of the musicians coming out of England came from the summer festivals were plentiful for artists to play and all of the push for free education in the arts resulted in a whole bunch of great talent being heard...
It was December 1975. I was a Junior in High School pulling into the parking lot of Great Scott Supermarket , arriving for my 2nd day as a bagger. Listening to Baker Street Muse on a portable cassette player sitting on my passenger seat... I could not leave the car in time to make the start of my shift. Tardy, I entered the market with a face of someone who may have just hit the lotto. 47 years later, I realize that I DID !
Yes, one of Tull's career highlights (and there are many). Absolutely nothing to criticise here from false start to comedy ending.
Isn't it great to have a muse? JP, the first time I heard this album was just after it came out... I almost sold my guitar.... Delicious acoustic guitar throughout Minstrel, Ian in fine voice, these troubadours at their very best.
Favorite song from my favorite band. Just a reminder, that's Ian playing acoustic.
To me this album is the best synthesis of everything Tull do well. I love it!
Ian is on acoustic guitar.
It would be a shame if you skipped War Child which was bookended by such great albums and seems to get forgotten. It's full of Ian's distinctive humour and follows on nicely from A Passion Play, breaking down into short song format. I saw this lineup touring the album and it was plain to see they were enjoying themselves. The track Two Fingers contains one of my favourite lines by Ian. All the usual elements from this period are there plus John Evan making excellent use of the piano accordion.
I also like 'why do the faithful have such a will to believe in something, and call it the name they choose, having chosen nothing?' Ian was a ridiculous wordsmith.
Ah... My go to track from my go to Tull album. Good stuff followed this, but for my money, this is Ian's peak as a vocalist and song writer.
I believe masterpiece is the right word for this song description. This song always in my top three Tull songs of all time. This album has never once lost the steam it initially came with.
David Palmer shines here.
The Shakespeare of pop rock progressive music.
A very somber inward looking album.very intricate and varied.lyrically challenging .love it.
I agree that this song showcases the full maturity of Jethro Tull's musical style - I really like those gentle strings and flute in the brief interludes. That riff has a couple of rests, or gaps in between notes, generating a dynamic imbalance. Ian must have overloaded this song to give the music critics a mind-boggling task to review it.
This album was recorded in breaks from the Warchild tour and didn't have it's own supporting tour, they just continued the Warchild tour with additional material from a new album. They also never performed this song live. I've requested other channels (Sight After Dark) react to this, so I'm grateful to have you finally enjoy it as well. The whole band is on fire, Ian's voice is probably at its best (for me, Warchild/Minstrel is his best balance of strength and nuance) and Ian writes some lines and vignettes on this album that are so brilliant. Super dense lyrically, beautifully arranged and impeccably performed. From '68 - '80 Tull are seriously hard to beat, and did good work afterwards as well. Legends.
Easily a top five track in the Tull canon and only true Tull fans even know it exists. Lucky us.
Justin, that's Ian on acoustic guitar. Sending this to Dee.
Yes, thank you! I mentioned this on Requiem. Here is what I got top of page on Google:
Ian Anderson's flute is widely regarded as the element that made Jethro Tull unique as a rock band. More instruments, however, contributed to the group's specific sound. One of those was Anderson's acoustic guitar, which - unlike his flute - gradually rose to a position of importance.
Justin, here's Dee's response:
Hello Robert, Thank you for the link. Without your prompt, I doubt I would ever have become privy to the thinking (and opinion) of someone I have never encountered but who, plainly, was aware of my contribution to the glory days of Jethro Tull. I am flattered. Hugely. Again, thank you so much. DP
Wow, thats incredible Robert! Thank you so much for doing that, was very kind of you
@@JustJP you're welcome. Dee seemed very grateful for your recognition which she so fully deserves.
@@JustJP , this morning's message from Dee:
A further thought. MITG hosts many more of the creative gems I entrusted to Ian's keeping. The pizzicato strings (emulating the quacking of ducks) in One White Duck is but one. I must listen to the album again; after all, it's over 47 years since Ian and I shared (for a couple of weeks) a rented house in LA to work on the songs.
I listened to this album over and oveer as a teenager, but only recently been to London and I didn't have much time for sightseeing while in there. To my surprise the only random walk I took across the city took me through the streets described in Baker St. Muse, and until know the only "real" London reference I have is from this album and the surroundings of Baker Street...
So good I'll listen again.
The title is a punning reference to the mews (courtyard) off of Baker Street in the Marylebone area where Ian Anderson was living at the time.
"shit, shit, shit - take two" always gets me too, bro! I haven't been on Baker St. in 40+ years, but this medley painted such a vivid picture for me, it'll last a lifetime. This is one of his best compositions, IMO - as well as THICK AS A BRICK (sides1 and 2) - his vocal deliveries are unique as another instrument. According to his website, Ian does have a house in the country, but never took a driving test for a motorcar (just cycles). I prefer the older stuff like the album Stand Up (Living In The Past is great, but a lot of it comes from Stand Up). You really should hit THICK AS A BRICK the entire album (one song). Ian didn't grow up in London, rather Blackpool, North of Liverpool.
Love, love, love this song!
Gun to my head, have to choose one, I think that this is the one, with Thick as a Brick coming in a close second, and maybe add in Budapest. As good as it gets. Glad you finally got to enjoy it!
It's an epic way to wrap up what's probably my favourite Tull album, and where the folk styling starts to come through strongly - it's not exactly the Wicker Man vibe from Heavy Horses or Songs from the Wood, but I can hear Ian leaning into the old English bawdy song tradition. Even though they're very different stylistically, I always place this one alongside what Townshend was saying in Who Are You, that sense of the jaded artist feeling how easy it is to be isolated even in a huge city, looking for outlets that don't mean very much, and - maybe a hint of transcendence to reach for.
I loved it, great job. This is my favorite album.
Enjoyed listening to it for the first time, with you. Somehow I missed this song - as in have seen it many times, and have somehow had it chalked up to the already-known songs, but always on the way to somewhere else, passing it by. (The record I think I skipped because most of it was on Bursting Out, Live, which had become my favourite way of listening to Jethro Tull.) Anyway "New" Jethro Tull! Always a pleasure to come across some of that. (There are many other gaps in my Tull-completeness, but I'm aware of those. Don't have the illusion of knowing them.)
Actually, the only song from Minstrel that appears on Bursting Out is the title song. Check out Cold Wind To Valhalla from MITG.
@@davidheiser2225 Cold Wind to Valhalla is one I already know. But that's no reason not to check it out yet again. :-)
Looked like you enjoyed this track JP infact the whole album. I can't get enough of it. I put it on every couple of weeks . I find it soothing even with its prog elements.
If you like “Minstrel in the Gallery”….and “Song From the Wood”….you certainly should go to “Heavy Horses” next.
this will be great! have been looking forward to it!!
Awesome reaction JP. 😍 I consider this album to be best progressive folk rock album of all , and let's face it Jethro Tull have made a fair few. I have heard this album a ridiculous amount of times, and never tire of it. It's rocky and folky in equal parts , all wrapped up in a medieval soundscape. What's not to like ?? All the band on very top form - Martin Barre is one of the best electric guitar player's the world has never heard of !! ( Apart from us lucky ones of course ) Remember my Mum ' dancing ' to it back in the day. Something for everybody - BRILLIANT !! Thanks again JP. 👍👍
Afternoon, Justin. Dave from That There London (about five miles from Baker Street). Wonderful reaction, and I totally agree with you that Dee's string arrangements play a starring role in these tracks and the album generally. Yes, the band are tight, probably as their songs have become deceptively complex. I know many of Tull's albums, but this one passed me by at the time (probably as it was my finals year, and I was a bit of a swot!). I feel that it marks a transition for the band, from its blues/rock and concept past to the baroque folkiness of Songs From The Wood and Heavy Horses (which remain my two favourites). Not a huge fan of Tull's longer songs, but this one flows so well. Plenty of social commentary about people Living In These Hard Times. Did they really record this album in Monte Carlo as tax exiles? Discuss!
P.S. my song ref Living In These Hard Times (ironic?) is from Heavy Horses.
What is it with Baker Street? Ian sings about it, Jerry Rafferty sings about it, it must be something special.
anf of course forgot Thick as Brick which is part of the superlative JT body of work, of course. By the way Minstrel in the Gallery is one of my personal favorites, I like it more than Thick as a Brick and even Aqualung. Its English Baroqueness resonates with me. I suppose if I am honest I love the Folk Rock period most, the 80s electronic period second and the developmental period from the blues period 3rd. The early period is take it or leave it for me and the very late stuff is okay but mediocre in comparison to the elite Aqualung to Broadsword period. Untouchable.
@@christinerobinson9372 Possibly because it's at the heart of commercial London and is a melting pot and meeting point for all kinds of people, a place people tend to pass through at points in their lives but without putting down deep roots. It's a transitory, ever-changing kind of a place.
@@christinerobinson9372 Sherlock Holmes, maybe.
@@Katehowe3010 It is, but don't think that's particularly directly relevant to the songs. But maybe Conan Doyle based his detective there for similar reasons: it's an area that's in the fringes, neither upper class nor working class. It's more anonymous and easier to believe that anything and anyone is there?
Thanks for finally getting to this. Great song, great review. I hope you like the photos that I posted on Twitter (and tagged you) when I went down to the Bakers St tube station. Titled “Crash Barrier Waltzer..and others”.
What an epic tune! Ian is also the master of the acoustic!
Bought this on release date, a million yrs ago. Still a personal favorite. Repeating themes, great concept album. Some of their finest work. In fact it’s so good, I still think they we’re showing off. Excellent choice. 🤘😎
Ha! been listening to this in the car!...great album
I really enjoyed your review and breakdown of the music and lyrics!
Thanks Richie!
You mentioned "Songs From the Wood". It is, hands down, my favorite Tull album. I used to listen to it whilst attending SCA events. It just fit the mood (all those medieval clothes and swords). "Songs From the Wood" was listened to by all!
Liked the reaction Justin. I have listened to this album for decades. Enjoyed hearing it though fresh ears and enjoyed your insight.
I wonder if this is the Steve Wilson remix..? I have never heard the xylophone so clearly before.. I've just looked at the notes at the bottom of the video and notice that Grace is noted as such so I guess that Baker St Muse must be too. Bloody hell.... another version here I come...
The "false" ending is a reflection on the fact that he is locked into his image/position in life.
My first concert was (War Child).
Have a listen.
This was just after Warchild and before Songs from the Wood. It fits right into their ever maturing sound. If you are a true Tull fan, compare this album to Benefit. Very different, but none the less quality Jethro Tull. Thanks for appreciating their music JP.
Before Too Old
The "trick" to feeling that one riff -- there's a one-measure build up, then a rest on beat one -- then the riff starts on the "and" of one (or the upbeat). If you can feel (or tap) the quarter note continuing through the riff, it makes more sense. :)
Ian Anderson on accoustic guitar, Martin Barre on electric guitar.
Great album! Benefit next?🙂✌️
My favorite side of this album for sure. Oh, I see I’ve been saying this before. I must have been “Back in the year one”
Great reaction to a wonderful piece of music.
Hey Justin ~ Just to be clear on this, Ian is playing all of the acoustic guitar parts. Martin plays all the electric parts. ;-)
Justin, absolutely enjoyable critique & analysis! This album ranks very high in my favorites list, & your take on it is engaging. Keep on truckin'! 👍🏻
I have no time for Time Magazine or Rolling Stone.
Which goes back to the snotty reviews of previous Tull albums in those publications.
@@broadsword6650 Yes, and may be the reason they've been blackballed from the so-called "Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame".
Great and lovely review.
You make a good point about Tull never standing still musically. If you go through their discography, you'll see that every album has a distinctly different musical theme.
This Was - Rustic English Blues
Stand Up - Middle Eastern vibe
Benefit - psychedelic rock
Aqualung - brooding, grungy rock
TAAB - operatic rock, etc
Love Jethro Tull. Music dare I say fore soothe, even five soothe that brings hundreds of year of our nation into merriment of music into the 20th Century. Ermm okay just found out we've moved on to the next one. Bloody hell time does move on so are in the next one beyond that. Okay whatever that therefore all that still counts. :)
If you were to ask me for an example of a perfect album (to the extent perfection is possible), this is the one I would cite. Every song is masterful. This, TAaB, and APP are my three favorite Tull albums. Thanks for sharing your reactions!
Maybe Stormwatch next?
The protagonist is Ian Anderson's muse and shows us bits and pieces of mld 70s London. Brilliant. Everything Jethro Tull have learned about composing and playing in their first 10 years is summed up here. Å masterpiece..
Ian plays the acoustic, not Barre.
everyone who likes jethro tull deserves subscription. im in! p.s.are you sure this acoustic guitar is martin barre`s though ? i think he rather plays the electric things and the "strummy" acoustic guitar is actually played by Ian himself, correct me if i m wrong. anyway great job in analysing all the tull songs.
YEAH FOR SURE JUSTIN, LOTSAAAA COMPLEXITIES BUT THEY SOUND SO GOOD TOGETHER :) THEY WERE TIGHT TOO WITH ( TOO OLD TO ROCK N ROLL, TOO YOUNG TO DIE ) :) GOOD WORK BUD, GREAT BREAKDOWN. LOVE ITTTTT!
Rich and lush is right. I read somewhere that Elton John and Brian Wilson had great things to say about Songs from the Wood just after it came out.
If you liked this, you'll love WarChild, at least some of its bits - it has similar involvement from Dee Palmer (fantastic string arrangements). Then there's still some great JT songs left for you to discover: No Lullaby, Flying Dutchman, Dun Ringill, Mouse Police, From A Deadbeat to an Old Greaser, One Brown Mouse, Chequered Flag, Old Aces Die Hard
Baker Street of Gerry Rafferty and Sherlock Holmes fame. Britain at this time was a fairly grey and grimy place but the music made it bearable. Nobody in their right mind could be nostalgic about the 70s, except for bands like this. I agree with other contributors that you should check out War Child.
One request....more from Benefit and you still have the Warchild album to explore.
Justin, now that you've completed this album, I hope you will someday give Ian his props for the acoustic guitar work, all of which is his and not Barre's. Otherwise, great review.
He is a great acoustic guitarist. Mother Goose off Aqualung is a good example.
Ian is a huge fan of Monte Python, Baker Street Muse seems like a Pythonesk comedy skit to me.
my JT ranking: 1) Passion Play ...little gap... 2) TAAB + Baker St Muse, 3) Aqualung, 4) Songs from... + rest of Minstrell... Ian Anderson has probably one of the best acoustic guitars in rock history and it shines on 'Muse'. Crash barrier waltzer is NOT done by Martin, this is done by Ian... kudos. Best rock bard - period. Probably, if one day Ian would appear with his small guitar and the flute on Trafalgar or on Times Square, all rush in this city would stop listening to him...
Plenty of good Tull left. Based upon your interest in Minstrel and Songs From the Wood , i think the HEAVY HORSES album is the perfect mix and perhaps a bit more optimistic and lighthearted in feel.
I loved hearing this album. You've picked most of the best stuff from the 70s. I'd love to see you do Queen's catalog, but I understand there are reasons you can't. Too bad... How about REM's first album, Murmur? There's not a bad track on it. Try "Sitting Still" or "Catapult."
Might I suggest Stormwatch for the next Tull album?
It's a later classic but a classic nonetheless.
Once again: the acoustic playing is Ian, not Martin.
Indian restaurants they curry my brain...
Baker Street Muse has a taste of Passion Play in it I feel.
Song pieces glued together with awkward, unmusical "heavy" riffs that don't progress-they just spin in place. I'm not sure what happened to Ian Anderson's writing, but I suspect that if at this point he could have had a career not being the one-legged leader of Jethro Tull, he would have done so. I bet it would have done him good.
You must be real fun at parties
Reeeeee, Anderson plays the acoustic parts, reeeeeee!
Of course, this epic is incredibly well played and superbly arranged but from my point of view its different parts do not necessarily fit together well and in truth, none of it speak to me particularly.
The storefront is nice but the whole thing leaves me a bit cold to be honest. "Grace" is nice to end the album.
Next trip with Jethro Tull: I advise you to make a stop at WAR CHILD station ! 😉 You will find a whole range of instruments there (saxophone, accordion, double bass...) as well as ever lush orchestral arrangements !
Seconding War Child HARD. It's one of my favourite Tull albums, criminally underrated if I'm honest. And speaking of instruments: there's even bagpipes in there!
@@cobrasys Totally correct ! !!! I always thought there was bagpipes on "The Third Hoorah" but I never saw them credited (it may be a synthesizer intended to imitate them but that would surprise me). You can even hear castanets at one point on "Ladies". War Child is definitely Jethro Tull's richest album in terms of orchestration and it's one of my favorites from the band.
@@cobrasys Oh ! and I forgot there were even tubular bells on "Sealion" ! Gosh this album is overloaded with arrangements!!! (but for its own good in this specific case !).
@@a.k.1740 Oh yeah, there's harpsichords in there as well. Ian went all out on that one. :D
@@cobrasys I don't remember hearing harpsichord on the War Child album. Could you tell me what song this instrument is on, please ? (maybe on one of the unreleased tracks at the time ?).
This is a very relaxing song mostly with it's repetitive and gently undulating flows, which Ian deliberately breaks up in parts later. This technique was taken to a whole greater level by bands like Porcupine Tree.
Wait till you hear Crest of the Knave!
Farm on the freeway.... lol
@@PIGFRAN "Budapest", "Jumpstart", "Mountain Men", even "Raising Steam". I love that album.
Ioi
I love it too... for me it is a special one.. the first Tull album I have listening...
Wonder if Gerry Rafferty got any inspiration from this song?
Possibly. I don't doubt Rafferty would have heard it.
Or maybe both songs, inspired by the same street, reflect personal musings (pun intented) by each artist. According to Wikipedia, Rafferty spent a lot of time at a friend's house on Baker, at a time he was going through some legal disputes. Likely, Baker Street the song is a reflection of those experiences.
@@rsm3t If he was living there, then, I agree, that's the most likely reason. Thanks.
"And if sometimes I sing to a cynical degree -
It's just the nonsense that it seems."
Kinda sums up the whole prog rock era, don't it.
Ian Anderson - best guitarist in Jethro Tull.
exaggeration... Barre is real viruozzo... Nevertheless Anderson is IMHO best rhytmic, accoustic, guitar in rock history...
@@maciejkrasuski Anderson doesn't just play rhythm on acoustic. Esp. if you saw them live in the 70s.
@@eximusic Have you ever seen "Muse" live? Could not find any live video of "Muse" from the the 70s
@@maciejkrasuski Yes, I saw them in 1976 at LA Coliseum but they only played the title song from that album. Anderson did some acoustic guitar improvisation though. But I don't know that it was ever recorded. I know there are very few Tull video clips from the 70s on youtube.